Hall Lake Trail is a 2-mile loop to Graves Hill that begins with an immediate junction with the return loop. By heading up the right-hand fork you pass the posted junction with a winter ski trail in a quarter of a mile and arrive to a view of Hall Lake at Mile 0.4. The trail here is wide and easy to follow as it crosses a bridge and then skirts the lake for the next quarter of a mile, providing good views of the islands in the middle.

At the northwest corner of the lake, the trail begins to climb gradually and then leaves the watery view for a sharper ascent to the high point. Just before Mile 1, you reach a junction with a bypass around Graves Hill and the return loop that’s posted as the route to Long Lake and Chief Noonday Trails. Head straight and in less than 100 yards will be standing on Graves Hill but most likely not seeing much. The highpoint with an elevation of 920 feet use to provide a view of the wooded interior of the state recreation area and a portion of Gun Lake. But now, other than late fall and winter, foliage obscures the view.

A trail leads northeast off the highpoint and is posted as the route to Devil’s Soup Bowl. You quickly cross an old two-track featuring the orange markers of a snowmobile trail and at Mile 1.3 arrive at the first Soup Bowl where a wooden fence keeps hikers from peering too far over the edge. The bowls are very steep, glacially carved depressions known as kettles.

Follow the trail in a clockwise direction around the large soup bowl and in at Mile 1.5 you’ll find yourself tiptoeing a narrow ridge with the large bowl to the right and the small one to the left. With a simple twist of the head you can look into both of them. The steep climb follows that tops off at a junction posted as the Deep Lake Trail and the mountain bike trail. Head right and right again in less than 100 yards.

At Mile 1.8 the mountain bike trail departs to the left while you’ll continue skirting the large soup bowl and at Mile 2 you’ll return at the fenced overlook. Backtrack to Graves Hill and follow the return loop marked for Long Lake Trail. It’s a steady descend off the glacial moraine that bottoms out at Mile 2.5 near the park road. Here Long Lake Trail heads west for the interior of the recreation area. Hall Lake Trail is the lefthand fork that continues to the southwest, passing three junctions with ski trails, each marked by a letter. At Mile 3.4 you emerge at the trailhead.